Hurricane-induced habitat change alters growth and microclimate for fungal diseases in the endangered Florida torreya

Florida torreya (Torreya taxifolia), a critically endangered conifer endemic to steephead ravines of northwest Florida and southwest Georgia, has declined for decades due to a fungal canker disease. Hurricane Michael, a Category 5 storm in 2018, caused extensive canopy loss within this refugial habitat. We investigated how such disturbance influenced tree health and microclimatic conditions relevant to disease dynamics. We monitored 40 wild T. taxifolia individuals for four years following the hurricane, measuring branch growth and mortality, temperature and light conditions, and the abundance and area of fungal cankers. Hurricane-induced treefall was quantified as the diameter at breast height (DBH) of fallen and standing trees within a 10 m radius of each focal individual. Hurricane-induced treefall was associated with increased branch mortality but also increased branch growth, likely due to greater light availability. Canopy loss significantly elevated local temperatures, which were..., Recording Florida torreya baseline health condition immediately post-hurricane  In October 2018, we selected 40 torreya (Torreya taxifolia) individuals in Torreya State Park for a multi-year monitoring study of the effects of hurricane-induced forest change. Focal trees were not selected randomly. Instead, individuals were chosen to minimize initial variation in size and form to facilitate fair comparisons through time. A focal individual represents a single torreya rootstock, which may produce multiple shoots at the soil surface. Selection criteria included a single visible shoot and an approximate initial height between 25–120 cm; only two selected individuals had more than one shoot emerging from the rootstock at the time of selection In March 2019, five months after the hurricane and before the new growing season, all focal individuals were observed to be green and alive. Baseline height was then measured as the length of the longest shoot from the soil surface to the shoot tip..., # Data from: Hurricane-induced habitat change alters growth and microclimate for fungal diseases in the endangered Florida torreya Dataset DOI: [10.5061/dryad.zs7h44jrb](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.zs7h44jrb) ## Description of the data and file structure **Dataset Overview** This dataset documents the health, growth, microclimate, and disease dynamics of the critically endangered Florida torreya (*Torreya taxifolia*) following Hurricane Michael (2018), a Category 5 storm that caused extensive canopy loss in Torreya State Park, Florida. The dataset was generated from a multi-year field study designed to evaluate how hurricane-induced forest disturbance influences individual tree performance and fungal canker disease severity. Data include repeated measurements of individual tree health, branch growth and mortality, forest structure, microclimate conditions, and canker disease severity. These data enable analyses of how variation in canopy disturbance and local environmental condit..., ,